Almost every housewife has in her arsenal a set of recipes she loves in the family, which from year to year please not only households, but also guests. This also applies to winter preparations: various types of jam, jam, spins from vegetables.
If we talk about sweet preparations for the winter, then there is a fairly standard set of fruits from which jam and jam are made.
Special recipe
But, you must admit, each of us wants to have recipes for dishes that will amaze loved ones with their originality and specificity.
For housewives who love extraordinary ways of cooking familiar products, we offer eggplant jam. This name causes the same bewilderment as jam from zucchini, peel of watermelon and green tomatoes. Nevertheless, such a dish is quite popular among connoisseurs of novelty.
In order to make eggplant jam, you will need certain time and labor costs, but believe me, they are worth it! Having obtained a new and original dish as a result of your efforts, you and your loved ones will appreciate the efforts made.
Eggplant Jam: Recipe
To make blueberry jam, small, carefully sorted fruits 7-10 cm in size are needed.
We will need:
- 24 small eggplants;
- 14 glasses of water;
- 2 teaspoons of baking soda;
- 2.4 kg of sugar;
- vanillin to taste.
We cut the stalk from the eggplant. Sepals do not need to be removed. Now we cut each fruit along and in several places we make through punctures with a fork. In the process of preparing eggplant, keep them in a container with cold water (covered with a lid), as interaction with air will cause a browning reaction.
Dissolve 2 teaspoons of soda in a glass of hot water. Combine the resulting solution with 7 cups of cold water.
Transfer eggplant into this liquid and leave it under the lid for 6 hours. While the fruits are in water, they must be washed at least 5-6 times.
Now pour in a pan in which you will make jam, ½ part of sugar. Pour it with 6 cups of clean water at room temperature and boil for 13-15 minutes over low heat.
While the syrup is boiling, remove the eggplants from the soda solution and rinse them under running water. When the syrup boils, dip the blue fruits in it and cook for 15 minutes over low heat. After that, remove the pan from the heat and leave for 12 hours.
Now you need to pour the remaining sugar into the jam, boil and reduce the heat. Boil all this for another 3 hours. Just 2 minutes before the end of cooking, add vanillin.
After the allotted time, remove the pan with the dish from the heat and cool slightly. After that, it is ready for bottling in dry cans. Ideally, you should have caramelized eggplant jam.
Eggplant and lemon
Eggplant jam with lemon is even more attractive. It has Armenian roots. At least, it is customary to consider this, given the fact that the Armenians, in principle, are famous for making exotic types of jam.
Eggplant jam - recipe:
- 2 kg of eggplant;
- 3 kg of sugar;
- 800 grams of water;
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice;
- 8-10 pieces of cloves;
- cinnamon to taste;
- 8-10 cardamom grains.
We begin to prepare the jam by selecting small eggplants 6-7 cm long. Pour them with cold water and let it stand for 24 hours.
Next, you should decant the water, and lower the blue ones into boiling water for 6-8 minutes. While the eggplants are boiling, prepare sugar syrup.
After the vegetables are boiled, drain the water, and cut them the way you like: circles, cubes, cubes. If the fruits are very small - you can not shred them.
Now fill the eggplant with the cooked hot syrup and cook for half an hour. Leave the vegetables to infuse in syrup for another 2 hours. Repeat boiling twice.
During the last approach to boiling jam, add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, dropping them in a gauze bag, and then pulling them out of the pan. These spices will give the delicacy a wonderful aroma. At the end of cooking, add lemon juice. He will give jam spicy sourness.
So, quite simply, we made an unusual jam from eggplant and lemon with spices.
Slow cooker and eggplant
Now many housewives in the kitchen have a very useful thing - a crock-pot. With the help of this miracle machine, they make many dishes without much difficulty, while saving time. Eggplant jam in a slow cooker will delight you with the ease of preparation.
We will only need to soak 1 kg of eggplant in water for a day (so that they lose the bitter taste), to clear them of the stalks, peel and sepals. After that, you need to put the vegetables in a slow cooker, pour half a liter of water and pour in 1 kg of sugar. Select the Extinguishing program for 1 hour. After it stops, run again so that the jam acquires the desired consistency. If desired, add lemon slices and cinnamon.
These fairly simple dishes will surprise and please not only yourself, but also households. In addition, eggplant jam is a storehouse of vitamins and minerals that support your health and well-being in the winter.